Tramway-switch.



No. 813,091. PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906. 0. U. N. GUNDERSEN. TRAMWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12.1905.

2 SHEBTS-SHEBT 14 in, v H m. mve wtoz No. 813,091. PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906.

0. o. N. GUNDERSEN.

TRAMWAY sWIToH.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12.1905.

2 SHEBTSSHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OTTO O. N. GUNDERSEN, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

TRAMWAY-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1906.

Application filed July 12, 1905. Serial No. 269,362.

' useful Improvements in Tramway-Switches,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to tramway or street-railway switches; and its novelty, utility, and practical advantages will'be fully understood from the following description and claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a plan View, partly broken, of so much of a tramway or street-railway as is necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken in the plane incheated by the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking toward the left. Fig. 3 is a detail broken longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 4 is a detail view of one of the sector-gears comprised in my improvements. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the other sector-gear. Fig. 6 is a view of a car equipped to throw the switch-tongue, and Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the verticallyswinging arms of the car removed.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, referring to which A and A are the main-track rails of a tram way.

B and O are turnoutrails.

D is a horizontally-swinging switch-tongue abutting at its heel against the rail A.

E is a pit located in the road-bed at a point between the rails A A, and F is the cover which normally closes the pit, so as to permit of travel thereover. The said cover F is preferably provided with a handhold a to permit of it being conveniently raised when desired, and it is also provided with slots b c, extending in the direction of the length of the railway and designed for a purpose presently set forth.

Suitably supported in the pit E is a transverse shaft or rod G, while journaled in suitable bearings d in the pit, at a point intermediate the shaft G and the tongue D, is a trans verse shaft H. This transverse shaft H is equipped with a miter-gear c and two pinions f and g, the said pinionsf and 9 being intermeshed with sector-gears 7c and Z, respectively. The sector-gear 7c is loosely mounted on the shaft Or, so as to swing vertically, and is provided with an arc-like opening m, designed to receive the pinion f and having teeth a on its forward wall intermeshed with said pinion, while the sector-gear Z is-similarly mounted on the shaft G and is provided with an arclike opening m, having teeth a on its rear wall intermeshed with the pinion g. The upper forward portions of the sector-gears k and Z are disposed in the slots 1) and 0, respectively, of the pit-cover F, and it will be readily appreciated that when the forward portion of the gear 76 is depressed the shaft H will be turned, through the medium of the pinion f, toward the right, and the forward portion of the sector-gear Z will, through the medium of the said shaft H and the pinion g, be raised; also that when the forward portion of the gear I is depressed the shaft H will, through the medium of the pinion g, be turned toward the left, while through the medium of the shaft H and the pinion f the forward portion of the gear 76 will be raised. From this it follows that irrespective ofv the position of the switch-tongue D one of the sector-gears is in a raised position ready to be depressed by means presently described, so

as to throw the said switch-tongue to its other,

position.

M is a rock-shaft journaled in suitable bearings and disposed longitudinally of the tramway. N is a miter-gear fixed on the rear portion of said rockshaft and intermeshed with the miter-gear e, and P is an arm reaching upwardly from the forward portion of the shaft M and engaging the swinging end portion of the tongue D, so as to transmit mo tion thereto. The shaft M constitutes a driving connection intermediate the shaft H and the switch-tongue, and in this connection I desire it distinctly understood that one or a plurality of switch-tongues may be connected with the shaft H through the medium of one or more suitable driving connections without involving a departure from the scope of my invention.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that when the switch-tongue D is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1 and it is desired to shift said tongue to the position shown by dotted lines it is simply necessary to depress the forward portion of the sector-gear k,

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' gear Z is depressed to turn the shaft toward the one shown at the right of Fig. 6 and in Fig. 7 will suffice to impart a definite understanding of both. The said device comprises a vertically-swinging arm S, pivoted at its rear end to the body of the car, parallel wheels T and U, carried by said arm and arranged in alinement with the sector-gears k and 1, respectively a spring V, having for its office to raise and normally hold the arm S in a raised position, and means under the control of a motorman or other person in authority on the car for depressing the arm S to its operative position. This means is preferably a pedal-rod W, which is connected to the arm S and extends upwardly through the platform of the car.

In virtue of the described equipment of the car it will be observed that when the car approaches the switch in the direction indicated by arrow in Fig. 1 and the motorman observes that the switch-tongue is in a position adverse to the course he desires to take it is simply necessary for him todepress the arm S, since when this is done one or the other of the wheels on said arm will engage its respective sector-gear, the forward portion of which is then in a raised position.

By recessing or depressing the cover F on the sides of the slots 1) and c, as shown at g and r, it will be seen that the gears 7r and Z may be let down in the pit, so as to bring their upper edges or tops on a level with the surface of the street, and thereby offer no obstruction above the surface, and consequently protect the gears from casual injury.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a tramway-switch, the combination of a switch-tongue, a shaft, a driving connection intermediate the shaft and the tongue for moving the latter by the former, pinions fast on the shaft, a vertically-swinging sectorgear fulcrumed inrear of the shaft and having an arc-like opening receiving one of the pinions, and also having teeth on the forward wall of said opening intermeshed with said pinion, and a vertically-swinging sector-gear fulcrumed in rear of the shaft and having an arc-like opening receiving the other pinion, and also having teeth on the rear wall of the opening intermeshed with the latter pinion.

2. In a tramway-switch, the combination of a switch-tongue, a shaft, a driving connection intermediate the shaft and the switchtongue for moving the latter by the former, pinions fast on the shaft, a vertically-swinging gear fulcrumed in rear of the shaft and having teeth disposed in rear of and intermeshed with one pinion, and a verticallyswinging gear fulcrumed in rear of the shaft and havin'gteeth disposed in front of and intermeshed with the other pinion.

3. In a tramway-switch, the combination of main-track rails, turnout-rails, a horizontally-swinging switch-tongue abutting at its heel against one of the main-track rails, a pit disposed between the main-track rails, a piteover having longitudinally-extending parallel slots, a transverse shaft journaled in suitable bearings in the pit and bearing fast pinions and a fast miter-gear, a longitudinal rockshaft having an upwardly-extending arm for moving the switch-tongue and also having a miter-gear intermeshed with that on the first-mentioned shaft, a vertically-swinging sector-gear fulcrumed in rear of the firstmentioned shaft and having an arc-like opening receiving one of the pinions and teeth on the forward wall of said opening intermeshed with said pinion, and also having its upper portion disposed in one of the slots of the pitcover, and a sector-gear fulcrumed in rear of the first-mentioned shaft and having an arclike opening receiving the other pinion, and teeth on the rear wall of the opening intermeshed with the latter pinion, and also having its upper portion disposed in the other slot of the pit-cover.

4. In a tramway-switch, a car equipped with a vertically-swinging arm, parallel wheels carried by said arm, means for returning the arm to and normally retaining the same in a raised position, and means for depressing the arm; in combination with a switch-tongue, a shaft, a driving connection intermediate the shaft and the switch-tongue for moving the latter by the former, pinions fast on the shaft, a vertically-swinging gear disposed in al nement with one of the mentioned wheels of the car and fulcrumed in rear of the shaft and having teeth disposed in front of and intermeshed with one pinion, and a vertically-swinging gear disposed in alinement with the other mentioned wheel of the car and fulcrumed in rear of the shaft and having teeth disposed in rear of and intermeshed with the other pinion,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OTTO O. N. GUNDERSEN.

Witnesses:

W. F. OOoNNoR, LEONARD FUNK.

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